


Action Dude vs. The Steel Hwarang

by Rebecca Hb (beckyh2112)



Category: Velveteen - Seanan McGuire
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-20
Updated: 2008-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 01:17:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1623848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beckyh2112/pseuds/Rebecca%20Hb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Action Dude, on orders of Marketing, must convince the Steel Hwarang to assist the Super Patriots against Velveteen. Unfortunately, the Steel Hwarang is notoriously Not a Team Player.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Action Dude vs. The Steel Hwarang

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to Invisible Moose for his assistance in beta-reading this story.
> 
> Written for Gray Cardinal

 

 

Author's Notes: The hwarang were an elite group of Korean males whose ideals somewhat resembled those of the samurai.

***

"-Then sue them."

Aaron straightened as Janine Lee, CEO of Lee Industries, stepped out of her black Jaguar. She spoke into a gleaming phone-earpiece, virtually ignoring the people around her. Secretaries were brushed aside as she stalked up the steps of her office building, and Aaron imagined the managers waiting inside the lobby would be similarily ignored. 

He blinked in surprise as one of them managed to push a cup of coffe into Janine's, which she mostly ignored while still giving instructions to a minion in her Legal Department.

To sue The Super Patriots, Inc., for using the likeness of the Steel Hwarang, Aaron realized with a sinking feeling. Sometimes he wished he could turn off his super-hearing. Knowing this request for help was already going to go over as well as asking Velma to return to the Super Patriots, West Coast Division, made it really hard for him to give it his all.

Especially knowing that Sparkle Bright was going to interrogate him about the meeting as soon as he got back. She really _disliked_ Ms. Lee.

"Action Dude." Ms. Lee tilted her head up slightly to look him in the eye. "I suppose you know something about what your Marketing Department is playing at? The likeness, name, and marketing of the Steel Hwarang belong to Lee Industries, **not** The Super Patriots, Inc.."

Aaron shrugged. "I just handle fighting supervillains, Ms. Lee."

"Hnh." She stalked past him, managing long strides despite the black business suit and power heels she wore. Aaron found himself lengthening his strides to keep up while still maintaining a normal walking pace.

"I'm actually here to talk about-"

"It can wait," she cut him off with a sharp gesture that flashed the frighteningly long nails she favored. They were painted with green Oriental dragons today, their heads overlapping with her fingertips. "At least until someone from The Super Patriots, Inc., can provide a personal apology for once more attempting to exploit the likeness of my family's ancestral guardian."

Sparkle Bright had never thought too much of that argument, given that Lee Industries happily 'exploited' the Steel Hwarang with their Marketing Department. That was why Sparkle Bright was back at base, though, and Aaron was here.

"I'll talk to them about it," he assured her. "But I'm going to have to leave this afternoon, and I'd really like it if I could talk to you about this myself."

She looked over her shoulder at him, almond eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I suppose this has something to do with the little frenzy on the California side of the border yesterday."

"Rogue supervillain," He parroted Marketing's line, trying to ignore the pang it gave him. ('Vel, it's Vel, not a supervillain, just a woman who didn't want to do this job. Because of _you_ , jerk.') "She's considered very dangerous and seems intent on reaching Oregon."

Ms. Lee turned to face him, and he tried not to flinch as she tapped one of her nails against his chest. It didn't matter how pretty she was, how artfully her hairdresser pulled her hair back into an updo held in place with green enamelled sticks, how nice her business clothes were, having six-inch long nails freaked him out.

"Why," She asked, "Do you think I need to know of such things?"

"The Steel Hwarang _is_ your family's ancestral guardian," Aaron told her. "He'd probably appreciate the head's up."

The Steel Hwarang was her brother, and everyone knew it, but Sparkle Bright and Marketing both had gone at him hammer and tongs to use the story Lee Industries put out. Shadow-y tech geeks in powered armor who ran around using martial arts to beat up psychos and solve murder mysteries may not be supernatural, but when they were the Steel Hwarang, they were very, very useful. Making either him or his sister angry meant the Super Patriots, West Coast Division, would get even less help and cooperation than the almost-nonexistent amount they usually did.

"I'll keep that in mind." A supervillainess might have drawn her nail down Aaron's chest; Ms. Lee merely pulled her hand back.

Aaron almost wished she had drawn it down his chest. That he could think of her as a supervillain, and he knew how to fight supervillains. Fighting Ms. Lee, though, took words and lawyers, and he didn't think of himself good with either of those weapons.

"I think we're done here, Action Dude."

He recognized dismissal when he heard it. Sparkle Bright might have bristled at being dismissed by someone with no powers or position in The Super Patriots, Inc., but Aaron knew he had more important things to take care of. Like getting the originals the photographers _must_ have taken when she touched him.

There'd be hell to pay if the tabloids got bored enough to say he was sneaking out to Oregon to see Ms. Lee.

***

"I don't think Hwarang's going to help us," Aaron reported as he flew over the city, heading back towards California.

"Who saw _that_ coming?" Imagineer quipped.

"Now, now," the falsely cheerful voice of a Marketing representative came over the comm-lines. "The Steel Hwarang is a very civic-minded hero. I'm sure if you explained the problem to him directly, Action Dude, he'd agree to help us."

A chill ran over Aaron's skin, like passing through a raincloud. "Hwarang gets really contrary if we interfere with him," he warned. "Talking to Ms. Lee is the best-"

"The Steel Hwarang," Marketing interrupted, "Is a vigilante. He shouldn't even possess a hero license, as he's certainly not a super-powered being. He's not even an enhanced human. If he won't cooperate, you are obligated to arrest him as a dangerous lawbreaker."

Yeah, that would go over like putting out an Action Dude/Steel Hwarang vs. the Red Death Troops boxed set. "I'm pretty sure he's a gadgeteer, sir."

"We have no proof of that, do we? He hasn't submitted to a super ability test in any of our records. Therefore, it is your duty as a member of the Super Patriots, West Coast Division, to apprehend him if he won't cooperate with us."

And that, as they said, was that.

***

That evening, Janine applied the mild solvent to her false nails, waited three minutes, then gently pulled them off. She set them into the empty places on the tiered array in front of her vanity-mirror. The tiers held seven full sets of nails in their own distinctive colors, all the same length that made Action Dude flinch.

Janine covered them with a piece of black velvet, stepped out of her high heels, and twisted a flower seal on her mirror-frame. A door hissed open next to her vanity, and she stepped through it, going down the long stairs in her stocking feet.

"Leo!" she called as she stepped out into the main room of the Steel Hwarang's base. "Super Patriots wants something from us again!"

There was a rustle of metal, a clunk, and a distant ow. Janine headed towards it, finding her brother shoulders-deep in the Steel Hwarang's mini-jet. The sleek little jet wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon, she estimated. "Are you adding the camouflage field like he asked?"

Leonardo Lee, whom Janine often suspected her father hadn't entirely wanted, ducked his head out of the jet's mechanics long enough to blink at her. The magnifying goggles he wore reminded her too much of Mad Doctor Kord. Her cheek twitched at the remembrance of the mad scientist abducting her to get at the Steel Hwarang, and the way he wouldn't keep his hands off her.

She had been quite happy to drive her nails into his eyes.

"Camouflage field?" Leo asked, sounding puzzled. "Oh, that. I did that hours ago. I'm just souping up the engine right now." He glanced warily between her and the plane. "In fact, I'm just going to get back to work on that-"

"Super Patriots, Inc.," she reminded him. "They want something from us. This is where you ask what it is they want."

"You'd tell me if it was really important."

"It seems they have a supervillain they can't handle. I've looked into it, however, and see no reason why we should get involved." She turned to her left to pace back and forth. "All the reports I've managed to scare up suggest whoever this is, she's a renegade hero. Definitely female, definitely super-powered. She seems to animate toys..." Which was an odd power, but many, many super-powers were odd.

"There was a Junior Super Patriot who did that," Leo commented, glancing longingly at the jet. "She disappeared after she turned eighteen. Velveteen Rabbit, maybe?"

"I don't remember any of them doing that."

Leo shrugged. "It was about five, ten years ago. Back before you started paying attention to the Super Patriots."

"You are such a superhero nerd." Janine tried not to roll her eyes. "I'll have to look into it, though."

"I could take care of it," Leo offered.

"Please." Janine came to a stop in front of him, shoulders slumping slightly. "So we don't need to get involved in this. Good. I hate giving Super Patriots, Inc. help."

"You hate Super Patriots, Inc., period."

"They devour children," she hissed, rocking forward on the balls of her feet. "I will destroy them utterly and sow their fields with salt so they cannot grow again."

Leo gave her the look that said 'you are edging too close to violently crazy for my comfort'. "They're too big for us. They're too big for the Steel Hwarang."

"Someone will bring them down." Janine drew a deep breath and settled herself back on her feet. "Speaking of which, the Steel Hwarang ought to patrol tonight."

***

If anyone had asked Aaron, he would have admitted he rather liked the Steel Hwarang. The guy had put down the Apocalypse Four by himself when they'd held the Super Patriots, West and East Coast Divisions, in their torture chambers. He could handle himself well in quantum-level fights, and he regularly fought the kind of nasty, vicious villains that made Aaron want to stop holding back on his punches. The Steel Hwarang was even one of the few people who liked Janine Lee, which probably optioned him for sainthood.

Aaron liked David and Velma, too. He was still obligated to bring them into the Marketing Division.

Action Dude flew through the artificial canyons of the city the Steel Hwarang called home. Windows rattled behind him as he blew through the business district downtown then spiralled lower over the bad old neighborhoods in the city. This was the kind of place Hwarang would be, if he was out at all.

If Action Dude could legitimately say he'd searched all of the likely places for the Steel Hwarang and hadn't found him, Marketing would likely get off his back. They had more important things to worry about than a man who wasn't on the Super Patriots payroll.

Action Dude hoped Hwarang had stayed in tonight.

A ninja flashed by, leaping nimbly across the rooftops, something glowing golden in his hands. Then another and another, until Action Dude had to just stop and stare (and vainly try to shush the nature documentary in his head about the annual ninja migration) as a horde of black-clad assassins dashed silently by. 

At the edge of the next rooftop, the lead ninja leapt boldly forward-

A form in mottled grey armor flashed by, heavy gauntlets snatching up the ninja, and then the incandescent blaze of the Steel Hwarang's bootjets dazzled Action Dude as he stared too long at the other's retreating form.

His eyes cleared in time to see one of the other ninjas of the horde snatch a golden orb out of the air before it could smash on the rooftop.

Thing number one every superhero learned about ninjas: a lone ninja was a dangerous supervillain. A horde of ninjas were minions for a dangerous supervillain.

Thing number one every superhero learned about supervillains: don't let them get the object they want. _Ever._

Action Dude dove for the ninja holding the orb.

In one motion, the ninjas jerked around to look at him. For the space of a breath, hundreds of red eyes stared up at him, and then the ninjas surged into motion. Shuriken filled the air like gleaming snow, and Action Dude raised an arm to shield his eyes from a lucky strike. His shirt shredded under the onslaught, but it was designed to do that. All he felt was a steady battering as the shuriken struck his invulnerable skin.

He crashed into the middle of the ninja horde, tossing aside the first one he got his hands on. There! That one had the golden orb!

Then the ninja swarmed him.

No matter how invulnerable a person is, he can be swarmed. All it takes is enough people to keep him basically stuck in one place. Thus, rule number five of fighting ninja swarms is to not do what Action Dude just did.

Black-clad limbs smacked against him, impeding Action Dude as he broke them. Just ahead, he could see the orb changing hands to someone even further away from him. Pretty much the entire horde had turned their attention to him by now.

He grinned. Perfect.

The Steel Hwarang swooped down and tore the orb from the ninja's hands.

"The number one rule of heroing," Action Dude said with a grin as he flung ninjas away from him, "Is that if it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid."

***

They hovered over the city, Action Dude's cape stirring in the wind. The Steel Hwarang didn't wear a cape, but Action Dude, with Marketing's design-talk filtered into his subconcious, didn't think the other hero needed one. A cape added flair to an otherwise plain costume, but the dark armor suit had all the flair it needed in the faint way its lines made people dream of the Far East.

Now, Hwarang held the golden orb in one hand. If Action Dude looked too closely at it, he could see scales pressed against the inside of the glass.

Action Dude avoided looking too closely. "So, that's...?"

"The Orb of Phanastacoria," the Steel Hwarang rasped, voice-changer reducing his voice to an eerie husk. "Those were the Shogun's Shadowkhan ninjas. If he's interested in this-"

"It'll be very bad." The Shogun was enough trouble when he didn't get involved in magic. A careful, dangerous plotter with a lot of money and advanced technology to throw at problems, he gave even the Super Patriots pause.

The Steel Hawarng nodded. "Neither of us want a demonic dragon unleashed on the West Coast."

Action Dude winced. Yeah, he had to agree with that.

They both fell silent, and Action Dude turned slightly away to stare out over the city. "I spoke to your sister earlier today."

The Steel Hwarang spun the orb in his fingers. The faint squeal of glass against metal underpinned his question. "Do you really think this woman will be a danger to my city?"

"Marketing thinks-"

" **You** are not Marketing."

Action Dude took the words as the chastisement they were. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to think about Vel without thinking about- Well, everything that made her so special to him. "I- don't think she would become a supervillain." The next part spilled out before he could help himself. "But I didn't think she would leave me, either."

The Steel Hwarang tilted his head to look at Action Dude. "Perhaps that was your flaw."

They both paused, the only sound the stirring of wind and the thrum of the Steel Hwarang's bootjets.

"Look," Action Dude began, "I've got to-"

"Let me make this easy on you." The Steel Hwarang raised his empty hand, and the world blurred as a pulse of- _something_ (Wraythe Warrior stunner, some part of him noted) slammed into Action Dude's head. He curled into a tight ball as his stomach tried to rebel, his bones feeling like wet noodles.

By the time it wore off, the Steel Hwarang was long gone.

Action Dude dug the communicator out of his beltpouch. "Action Dude, reporting in. Ran into some trouble with the Shogun's ninjas. I didn't see the Steel Hwarang, but I think he saw me. The ninjas had stolen a golden orb, and they didn't have it when I got done with them. I think he retrieved it while they were occupied with me. Have Marketing check to see if it turns up where it belongs in the morning."

He crushed the communicator before anyone could respond. Some part of him chided him for overkill and the damages that would be taken out of his pay. Another part of him remembered saying nothing when Marketing informed him he had been dating Vel to cover up a relationship with Sparkle Bright.

This time, he decided, this time silence would do some good. 

**-End-**

 


End file.
